Tablet armchair

ABSTRACT

A TABLET ARMCHAIR IN WHICH THERE IS PROVIDED A SEAT SUPPORTED BY A PLURALITY OF GROUND-ENGAGEABLE LEGS. A PAIR OF SUPPORTS EXTEND UPWARDLY ABOVE THE SEAT TO SUPPORT A BACK REST. A BRACKET IS MOUNTED ON ONE OF SAID SUPPORTS, AND AN ARM IS SWINGABLY CONNECTED TO SAID BRACKET. A SLIDE HAVING A TABLET FIXEDLY MOUNTED THEREON IS CARRIED ON SAID ARM. SAID SLIDE IS MOVABLE WITH AND WITH RESPECT TO SAID ARM FOR MOVING THE TABLET BETWEEN A RETRACTED POSITION IN A PLANE GENERALLY PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE OF AND AT THE SIDE OF SAID SEAT AND AN EXTENDED OPERATIVE POSITION IN WHICH SAID TABLET IS SUPPORTED IN A PLANE GENERALLY PARALLEL TO AND ABOVE THE PLANE OF SAID SEAT.

5mm. E9, 1% MONYER ETAL 3,55%,

TABLET ARMCHAIR Filed June 20, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS ROBERT L. MONYER L M. FRI CKE DONALD L. MOORE ATTORNEYS Jmm. 19, W71 R. L. MONYER ETAL 555,

TABLET ARMCHAIR Filed June 20, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet z s4 27 w: l

i P 1 54 1 I 1 44 Sig/T 4e INVENTORS ROBERT L. MONYER 'PAUL M. FRICKE DONALD L. MOORE BY 4244a, 'Mm

' ATTORNEYS United States Patent O f 3,556,588 TABLET ARMCHAIR Robert L. Monyer, Paul M. Fricke, and Donald L. Moore, Gallatin, Tenn., assignors to Hamilton Cosco, Inc., Columbus, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Filed June 20, 1969, Ser. No. 835,126 Int. Cl. A47h 39/06 US. Cl. 297-162 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tablet armchair in which there is provided a seat supported by a plurality of ground-engageable legs. A pair of supports extend upwardly above the seat to support a back rest. A bracket is mounted on one of said supports, and an arm is swingably connected to said bracket. A slide having a tablet fixedly mounted thereon is carried on said arm. Said slide is movable with and with respect to said arm for moving the tablet between a retracted position in a plane generally perpendicular to the plane of and at the side of said seat and an extended operative position in which said tablet is supported in a plane generally parallel to and above the plane of said seat.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Tablet armchairs in which the tablet arm is foldable between extended and retracted positions are known in the art. For example, Supita US. Pat. 2,676,645 shows a tablet armchair in which the tablet arm is foldable between retracted and extended positions as the chair upon which the arm is mounted is also folded between its retracted and extended positions. Junkunc US. Pat No. 2,954,073 shows a tablet armchair in which the tablet arm is movable between retracted and extended positions irrespective of whether or not the chair upon which it is mounted is folded into its retracted position.

In both the Supita and Junkunc patents, however, the tablet arms are supported on arms which are connected to the chair seats and extend upwardly from said seats to their connections to the tablet arms. Thus, such tablet arm supports restrict lateral movement of the legs of a person using the chair along one side of the chair.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a tablet armchair in which the tablet arm can be moved between retracted and extended positions irrespective of whether or not the chair upon which it is mounted is in a folded or extended position. It is a further object of the invention to provide such a tablet arm chair in which the tablet arm and its supporting structure will not restrict the lateral movement of the legs of a person using the chair.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with one form of the invention, there is provided a tablet armchair in which the seat is supported on a plurality of ground engageable legs. One pair of said legs extends upwardly above the seat to provide a pair of supports upon which a back rest is mounted.

A bracket is mounted upon one of said supports and has a forwardly presented face disposed at an angle to the horizontal. A support arm is swingably connected to said bracket on a transverse axis for movement between a generally vertical retracted position and a generally horizontal extended position. A slide assembly is slidably and rotatably mounted on said arm and is fixedly connected to a tablet. A stop is mounted on the arm, and a spring acting between said stop and the slide assembly urges said assembly rearwardly into engagement with said bracket. Said slide assembly has an angularly dis- 3,556,583 Patented Jan. 19, 1971 posed rear face which, when the arm is moved into its extended position and the assembly rotated on said arm to dispose the tablet in a plane parallel to the plane of the seat, supports said tablet in its extended operative position. The stop on the support arm is engageable with abutments on the slide assembly for limiting the rotational movements of the tablet between its operative position in which it lies in a plane generally parallel to the plane of the seat and its retracted position in which it is disposed at the side of said seat in a plane generally perpendicular thereto.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

In such drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a tablet armchair embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the chair shown in FIG. 1, showing the tablet arm in extended position in full lines and in retracted position in dotted lines;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged transverse section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a section similar to FIG. 4 but with the tablet arm in its retracted position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The tablet armchair shown in the drawings is illustrated as being embodied in a foldable chair. To this end, the chair is formed by a U-shaped frame which provides a pair of front legs interconnected at their upper ends by a transverse bight 13. A seat 14 is pivotally connected to the legs 12 on pivot pins 15 and to a pair of rear legs 16 on pivot pins 17. The legs 12, which project above the seat 14, define a pair of lateral supports 18 extending between the seat 14 and bight 13. Each of the rear legs is connected to one of the supports 18 by a link 20 pivotally connected to the support by a pin 21 and to the associated rear leg by a pin 22. As shown, a back rest 24 is connected to the upper ends of the supports 18 and the frame bight 13. This is the same type of chair construction as is employed in the Supita US. Pat. No. 2,676,645. To fold the chair into its retracted position from its erected position shown in FIG. 2 the front edge of the seat is swung upwardly with the seat pivoting about the pins 15 and 17. Simultaneously, the rear legs 16 swing about the links 20 into a retracted position such that both the seat and the rear legs are in planes generally parallel to the front leg frame 10.

The improvement comprising the invention lies in the tablet arm assembly illustrated in the drawings. As shown, said assembly comprises a bracket 26 having a concave inner face 27 adapted to abut one of the supports 18 and connected to said support by a pair of bolts 28. As shown, the bracket 26 projects laterally outwardly from the support 18 upon which it is mounted with its front face 30 angled rearwardly with respect to the horizontal. A slot 32 extends upwardly from the bottom of the bracket, and as shown in FIG. 3, said slot is provided at its upper end with a rear wall 33 whereby said slot and rear wall define a forwardly open channel. For reasons that will become more apparent hereinafter, the juncture of bracket bottom face 35 with the bracket front face 30 is rounded to provide a smooth rounded surface thereat.

As shown in FIG. 3, a pin 36 is mounted on the bracket 26 and extends transversely across the slot 32 adjacent the upper end thereof. An elongated support arm 38 having a circular cross-section is swingably mounted on the pin 36. The arm 38 is swingable about the horizontal axis of the pin 36 with the downward swinging movement of said arm being limited by the slot back wall 33 and the upward swinging movement of said arm being limited by the upper end of slot 32.

As shown, the generally L-shaped tablet 42 is mounted on a slide assembly carried on the arm 38. Said slide assembly comprises a channeled mounting plate 44 having a pair of parallel legs 45 and 46 interconnected at their upper ends by a web 47 riveted to the rear portion of the tablet 42 as at 43. As shown in FIG. 3, the rear end of the web 47 terminates in a downwardly extending rear wall 50 and the lower portions of the rear edges of the legs 45 and 46 are rearwardly angled to define a pair of support faces 52.

A guide is carried within the slide and comprises a web 54 fixedly secured to the lower face of the web 47. A pair of legs 55 and 56 extend downwardly from the web 54 and are provided with apertures slidably and rotatably mounting the guide on the arm 38. Thus, said .guide rotatably and slidably mounts the tablet 42 on the arm 38. For reasons that will become more apparent hereinafter, the guide is also provided with an L-shaped flange extending along one of its longitudinal edges and comprising a downwardly extending leg 58 terminating in an inwardly projecting leg 59.

As shown in FIG. 4, a pin 60 extends diametrically through the arm 38 with its ends projecting outwardly therefrom. A coil spring 62 is also carried on the arm 38 with its ends disposed in bearing engagement with the pin 60 and guide leg 56. In this manner, said spring urges the guide and mounting plate toward the bracket 26 to dispose the bracket rear wall 50 in engagement with the bracket bottom face 35 when the tablet arm is in its retracted position and the support faces 52 in en gagement with the bracket front wall 30 when the tablet arm is in its extended operative position.

Rotational movement of the guide about the axis of arm 38 to limit the outward swinging movement of the tablet arm is limited by the pin 60 bearing against the flange leg 59 on the guide. As shown in FIG. 3, the webs 47 and 54 are provided with elongated, transverse slots 64 and 65 disposed in alignment with the pin 60. With the tablet arm in its operative position as shown in FIG. 4, said pin engages the ends of the slots 64 and 65 to limit further inward rotational movement of the tablet arm so that it is disposed in a plane generally parallel to the plane of the seat 14. In its retracted downwardly projecting position as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2, inward rotation of the tablet is limited by said tablet abutting the adjacent front leg 12.

In order to move the tablet arm from its retracted position into its operative position, it is merely swung upwardly with the arm 38 rotating about the axis of the pin 36 and the mounting plate wall 50 riding first against the bracket lower face 35 and then against the bracket front face 30. After the tablet 42 has been raised sufficiently to clear the seat 14, it can be rotated about the axis of the arm 38 with the guide legs 55 and 56 rotating about said arm. The inward rotation of the arm toward its operative position about the axis of arm 38 is limited by the pin 60 engaging the ends of the slots 64 and 65. With the arm disposed in its operative position shown in full lines in FIG. 2, the mounting plate faces 52 will be in bearing engagement with the bracket front face 30 for supporting the tablet arm in a cantilevered position above the seat. The tablet arm is releasably retained in such operative position by the spring 62 forcing the guide, and thus the mounting plate, rearwardly against the bracket.

To move the tablet arm into its retracted position, it is merely swung upwardly about the axis of pin 36 to disengage the faces 52 and 30, whereupon said tablet can be rotated about the axis of arm 38 and then swung downwardly about the axis of pin 36.

As just described, movement of the tablet arm between itsextended and retracted positions can be accomplished irrespective of whether or not the chair is in its folded 4 or unfolded conditions. Thus, the specific chair construction upon which the tablet arm assembly is mounted is not material save for the provision of at least one support member upon which the bracket 26 can be mounted.

We claim:

1. In a tablet armchair, a seat, means for supporting said seat in an operative position, means extending above said seat for supporting a back rest above said seat, a bracket mounted on said means, a support arm swingably connected to said bracket for movement between a generally vertical retracted position and a generally horizontal extended position, slide means swingably and rotatably carried on said support arm, a tablet fixedly mounted on said slide means whereby said tablet is movable between a retracted position in a plane generally perpendicular to and at the side of said seat when said support arm is in its retracted position and an extended position in a plane generally parallel to and above said seat when said support arm is in its extended position, and means urging said slide means against said bracket for releasably retaining said tablet in extended position.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which said bracket has means thereon engageable with said support arm for limiting the swinging movement of said support arm.

3. In a tablet armchair, a seat supported by a plurality of ground-engageable legs, means extending above said seat for supporting a back rest above said seat, a bracket mounted on said means, a support arm swingably connected to said bracket for movement between a generally vertical retracted position and a generally horizontal extended position, slide means carried on said arm, a tablet fixedly mounted on said slide means, stop means on said support arm, and a spring carried on said arm bearing against said stop means and slide means, said slide means being slidable and rotatable with respect to said support arm whereby said tablet is movable between a retracted position in a plane generally perpendicular to and at the side of said seat when said support arm is in its retracted position and an extended position in a plane generally parallel to and above said seat when said support arm is in its extended position, said spring urging said slide means against said bracket for releasably retaining said tablet arm in extended position.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 3 in which said bracket has a rearwardly inclined front face and said slide means has a rearwardly angled support face urged 1nto engagement therewith by said spring.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 3 in which said bracket has a forwardly open channel formed therein and said support arm is swingably carried therein, said support arm being engageable with said channel for limiting the movement of said support arm toward its retracted position.

6. The invention as set forth in claim 3 in which said slide means has means thereon for limiting its rotational movement on said support arm.

7. In a tablet armchair, a seat supported on groundengageable legs, means extending above said seat for supporting a back rest, a bracket mounted on said means, a support arm swingably connected to said bracket on a horizontal axis, a guide swingably and slidably mounted on said support arm, a mounting plate mounted on said guide, a tablet mounted on said mounting plate, spring means carried on said support arm and urging said guide toward said bracket whereby when said support arm is swung upwardly and said guide is rotated to dispose said tablet in a plane generally parallel to said seat said mounting plate will engage said bracket for supporting said arm and tablet in an extended generally horizontal operative position.

8. The invention as set forth in claim 7 with the addition that means are provided on said arm and guide for limiting the rotational movements of said guide on said arm.

9. The invention as set forth in claim 8 in which said means comprises a pin extending through said arm, said guide has a slot formed therein one end of which is engageable with said pin for limiting rotation of the guide in one direction, and a flange on said guide engageable with said pin for limiting rotation of said guide in an opposite direction.

10. The invention as set forth in claim 7 in which said guide comprises a web having a pair of apertured legs rotatably received on said arm, said arm has stop means thereon, and said spring means comprises a coil spring carried on said arm with its ends in bearing engagementwith said stop means and one of said guide legs.

11. The invention as set forth in claim 10 in which said bracket has a rearwardly angled front face, and said mounting plate has angularly disposed support faces at its rearward end engageable with said bracket front face when said tablet is in its operative position for supporting said tablet in a cantilevered operative position above said seat.

12. In a tablet armchair, a seat supported on groundengageable legs, means extending above said seat for supporting a back rest, a bracket mounted on said means and having a rearwardly angled front face and a forwardly open channel extending upwardly from its lower face, a support arm having one of its ends swingably mounted in said channel on a horizontal axis, a pin extending through said arm, a guide having a pair of apertured legs slidably and rotatably received on said arm, a mounting plate mounted on said guide and having a pair of depending legs provided with angularly disposed rear support faces, a tablet mounted on said mounting plate, a spring mounted on said arm with its ends bearing against said pin and one of said guide legs for urging said mounting plate into en gagement with said bracket, said arm being swingable about said horizontal axis and said guide being rotatable about said arm for movement of said tablet between a retracted position in a plane generally perpendicular to and at the side of said seat and an operative position in a plane generally parallel to and above said seat, said support faces engaging the bracket front face for supporting said tablet in its operative position, and means on said guide engageable with said pin forlimiting the rotational movements of said guide on said arm.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,261,641 7/1966 Black et a1. 297162 3,269,772 8/1966 Brunskole 297162 3,351,377 11/1967 Anderson 297-16Z 3,506,303 4/1970 Smittle et a1. 297162 JAMES T. MCCALL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 9 1. 5 

